Creu Prydain Decach
If you are a disabled student or prospective student and think you have been discriminated against, you may be able to challenge this under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA).
The DDA gives disabled students rights in their access to colleges, universities and other providers of Post-16 education. Your rights in education have been introduced in three stages:
There is a Code of Practice for Post-16 education providers about the DDA. It is taken into account by the courts and it guides disabled people and service providers on how reasonable adjustments should be made.
The DDA defines disability as a physical or mental impairment, which has a substantial and long-term adverse affect on a person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
This would include many long-term or fluctuating health conditions. For example, if you have problems with mobility, seeing or hearing, a learning disability, mental illness, epilepsy, Aids, asthma, diabetes or a condition that gets progressively worse such as multiple sclerosis, then you may be covered under the DDA.
It is against the law for providers of post-16 education and related services to discriminate against you in three areas:
The duties cover:
If your education provider is not included in this list of institutions then it does not have duties under the Post-16 Duties of Part 4 of the DDA. Schools providing sixth form education are covered by the schools duties under Part 4. Further information is available from the Helpline.
According to the DDA there are two main types of disability discrimination:
(a) unjustified less favourable treatment for a reason related to a person’s disability and
(b) unjustified failure to take reasonable steps.
Less favourable treatment
An education provider discriminates against a disabled person if it treats him or her less favourably than other people (for a reason related to his or her disability) and cannot justify the treatment.
The DDA says that less favourable treatment may be unlawful in the following areas:
To show you have been treated less favourably for a reason related to your disability you need to show:
For example:
Education providers also discriminate if they fail to take reasonable steps to prevent a disabled person from being placed at a substantial disadvantage. This is commonly known as the duty to make ‘reasonable adjustments’. This duty applies in the following areas:
The duty to make reasonable adjustments includes a duty to provide auxiliary aids and services and a duty to remove or alter a physical feature.
Some examples of reasonable adjustments might be:
These duties are anticipatory. This means that an education provider cannot just wait until it is approached by a disabled student but must be thinking ahead about what adjustments might be needed.
The DDA does not define ‘reasonable’ and ultimately it will be up to the court to decide. However, issues such as the cost of the adjustment, the interests of other students, health and safety factors and whether academic standards are maintained will all be taken into account in deciding whether an adjustment is reasonable.
Physical features include steps, stairways, kerbs, exterior surfaces and paving, parking areas, building entrances and exits (including emergency escape routes), internal and external doors, gates, toilet and washing facilities, lighting and ventilation, lifts and escalators, floor coverings, signs, furniture, and temporary or movable items. This is not an exhaustive list.
The Helpline should be able to help. Advisers will be able to guide you through the law and discuss your options. They may also be able to send you some helpful material that might support you in resolving an experience of disability discrimination.
Helpline colleagues can also signpost you to other relevant organisations who may be able to assist you. In some circumstances we may be able to refer your dispute to the Conciliation Service and be able to get a satisfactory result without taking the case further. The aim is to reach an agreement that both sides accept.
The conciliation service will be available in England, Scotland and Wales and disputes may be referred to conciliation if both sides agree. However, please note that you will not be stopped from taking legal action if you are unhappy with the outcome of the conciliation. If your complaint is referred to the service, you will have extra time in which to take legal action.
You may be able to take your dispute further by going to court. This will be a civil action in a county court in England and Wales, or the Sheriff Court in Scotland. You need to take your complaint to court within six months of the date when the alleged discrimination took place (this time period is extended to 8 months if the case has first gone to the DCS). If you have been discriminated against over time, the six months begins at the date of the last incident.
If your court case is successful, you could be awarded compensation. You may also seek an injunction (in England and Wales) or an interdict (in Scotland) to stop further discrimination, or to make your educational institute take positive action to avoid discrimination.
You can complain directly to the body responsible for your education. They should have a complaints procedure to help solve disputes quickly. You can do this even if you have begun legal proceedings.